The former 'Real Housewives of Salt Lake City' star tells PEOPLE where her relationship stands with her former Bravo boss
NEED TO KNOW
- Jen Shah tells PEOPLE she holds no ill will toward Andy Cohen despite his past critical comments about her
- Shah takes full responsibility for her role in a telemarketing fraud scheme and is working to pay $6.6 million in restitution
- She remains open to returning to Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and hopes for a second chance to rebuild her image
Jen Shah has no negative words for Andy Cohen.
In a wide-ranging interview with PEOPLE, the former Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star addressed comments the Housewives executive producer made about her while she was in prison, explaining that she understands why opinions about her may have formed while she was away.
“Andy has a right to his opinion,” Shah, 52, says. "And without me being able to talk to him or without me being able to even speak at the time at all, people rightly so made their own judgments and had their own comments."
"With the legal process, between pleading and sentencing, you have to do a lot of work, so I was directed by counsel to not give any interviews. That was hard because I wanted to talk and address the false narratives that were taking on a life of their own about me," she says. "But I was being advised it wasn't the right time."
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Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty; Chris Haston/Bravo via Getty
Cohen, 57, previously cut ties with Shah after she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a nationwide telemarketing scheme.
"Jen Shah, I never want to see again," Cohen told his audience at Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, in a behind-the-scenes clip shard in September 2025 by fan account Queens of Bravo.
He reiterated his statement in a December 2025 episode of his SiriusXM radio show, Andy Cohen Live. "She’s not coming back to The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City," he said. "I wish her all the best in her next life. I would assume that she'll wind up on a reality show, but it won't be anything that I'm working on. I don’t know that I can see Bravo working with her again. Can we put a period at the end of that sentence?"
Shah, who was released from federal prison to home confinement in December 2025 after serving two years and nine months behind bars, says she doesn’t take the comment personally.
“I don’t really take a lot of it to heart,” she says. "Andy has been very professional to me and to my team — I know my team has spoken to him while I've been gone. So I just base my opinions on what my own interaction has been with him."
Credit: Chad Kirkland
The mother of two tells PEOPLE she takes ownership for her role in the fraud case. “I was wrong,” she says. “I made wrong decisions. I should have done things differently. I should have been more diligent. And I'm deeply remorseful and sorry for my actions and for my part. I take full responsibility."
She'll remain on home confinement likely through August, and has made it a priority to pay back the rest of the $6.6 million restitution she owes to make her victims whole.
"I'm court-ordered to pay a percentage of any earnings I make. While I was away, I paid restitution every month. And back home, I have to work so that I can continue to pay. That's a requirement," she says, noting she's looking at different projects within the entertainment and media industry for her next steps. "These people deserve to be made whole."
Credit: Chad Kirkland/Bravo
As for whether she'd ever return to RHOSLC herself, Shah isn't ruling it out. “I mean, never say never, right?” she says. “I appreciate the show and the time I had on it because it did afford me a platform that I wasn't able to have before. I guess right now at this time anything is possible."
The door doesn't appear to be closed from the network's side. At BravoCon in November 2025, Bravo and Peacock Unscripted chairman Frances Berwick told Variety that "the level of accountability" and "the level of change that that person is going to make" goes a long way in accepting former Housewives back on the platform. "I have no idea on the level of accountability," Berwick said at the time about Shah.
For what it's worth, Shah realizes that not everybody will want to give her a second chance. "It's up to others if they want to forgive me or not," she says. "All I can do is be true to my word, move forward with integrity and show others that I have learned from my past and can make better choices going forward."
She's hopeful that she's given the opportunity to be seen as a full person and not just the headlines others have written about her.
"People can make mistakes, but we don't have to stay stuck in those mistakes," Shah says. "We can learn from those mistakes and move forward with integrity, with intention, with accountability, and be better. I hope that people will find it in their hearts to have that mercy and grace, and offer others the chance to change."
For more on Jen Shah, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.
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